1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of optoelectronic devices. It more particularly relates to methods of fabricating integrated optoelectronic devices, to optoelectronic devices fabricated using such methods, and to semifinished products, namely opto-electronic wafers provided with optical components on a wafer level.
2. Description of Related Art
The combination of optical elements with active optoelectronic devices (light emitting and light detecting) to monolithic optoelectronic systems is getting increasingly important. Since optoelectronic devices are increasingly miniaturized, in order to miniaturize such optoelectronic systems, the optical components and Microsystems need to undergo the same miniaturization. However, according to the state of the art, the (passive) optical components and systems are completely separate parts, which can not be incorporated in the fabrication chain of the optoelectronic devices.
When the (passive) optical components are included in the optoelectronic fabrication chain, an important requirement usually is that the optics is compatible with fabrication processes of the optically active component. This includes stability in high temperatures, humid environments and temperature shocks; naturally, also requirements concerning the optical function have to be guaranteed by the materials and processes: high or well defined transparency in a wavelength range of interest, accurate control of dispersion and polarization, alignment, surface shape needs to be controlled down to fractions of a wavelength, optical quality of layers: low numbers of scratches, digs, inclusions, bubbles, . . . . And finally, also, mechanical requirements have to be met, for example, protection of the optical and opto-electronic components and form stability.